During a vehicle collision, an occupant in a vehicle may move toward a crash pad in front of the occupant by inertia, and thus, airbags and seat belts are provided in the vehicle to protect the occupant, for example, an abdominal region of the occupant. However, when an engine compartment is crushed inward, a cowl cross bar, which is mounted inside the crash pad at a lower side thereof, and a lower panel including a lower portion of the crash pad may strike a knee of the occupant.
To address the above concern, a knee bolster is mounted inside the crash pad (dash board) at the lower side thereof in order to reduce severity of injury to the knee.
Referring to FIG. 5, a knee bolster in the related art includes: a knee bolster panel 4 which couples a shock absorbing foam 3 to a U-shaped bracket 2 mounted to one side of a cowl cross bar 1. The knee bolster panel 4 is fastened to the front of the knee bolster and made of steel or glass fiber reinforced thermoplastic (GMT). A lower crash pad panel 5 covers the knee bolster panel 4 for the purpose of an aesthetic appearance and is made of a polymer material. According to the knee bolster, when a knee of an occupant hits the lower crash pad panel 5 during a vehicle collision, the knee bolster panel 4, which is a rigid body, prevents the knee from crashing further toward the inside of the knee bolster panel 4. The shock absorbing foam 3, which is mounted to the rear of the knee bolster, absorbs impact energy while deforming together with the U-shaped bracket 2.
However, the structure of the knee bolster according to the related art is complicated, and thus increases the number of assembly hardware and components and cost.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding the background of the invention, and therefore, it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.